The Champlain Valley Union High School girls basketball team knows how to grab attention.

The past two seasons, the Redhawks did it with perfect campaigns — the program's first. This winter, they broke a long-standing Division I record when their multi-year winning streak reached a 63rd game.

What was in store for Tuesday night's Division I final with Essex?

Eye-catching defense.

The top-seeded Redhawks held the No. 3 Hornets to just eight points in the second half as part of a 41-23 victory and third consecutive state crown — the best defensive display ever in a D-I championship game.

The performance edged out St. Johnsbury's in 2010, when the Hilltoppers grinded out a 27-24 win over Rutland.

"I didn't really recognize how efficient we were until the game was done," CVU coach Ute Otley said. "And I didn't recognize how big the spread was either. All of a sudden, someone said, 'We're at two minutes and you're up 18.'

"It never felt like that."

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The CVU girls' basketball team beat Essex to claim their third Vermont state championship win in a row.
RYAN MERCER/FREE PRESS

Champlain Valley (24-0) held the Hornets (18-6) to just 2-of-21 shooting after halftime and no field goals in the third quarter as it stretched a four-point lead at the break to 31-17 with eight minutes to play.

"It kind of kicked in that it was a close game and we just wanted to get some stops, stop the surge, and we did," CVU senior guard Caitlin Grasso said.

"We came out with a little more enthusiasm, I think, and we were being a little more aggressive, going for the steals, not holding back," Grasso said. "(Coach) got us a little pumped up at halftime about getting after it."

Essex struck first in the second half, a pair of Emily Goodrich free throws on the opening possession made it a two-point game.

But the Redhawks finished the third quarter on a 12-0 run — after which every Hornets possession became a strategic battle against CVU's 2-3 zone defense and the clock.

"That was why we stayed in the zone and didn't go man-to-man," Otley said. "I knew if we went man-to-man they were going to put the ball on the floor, try to stop the clock, try to get us to foul ... Until somebody knocked down a couple 3s on us, we were going to stay in the zone."

CVU'S Laurel Jaunich (left) tries to take the ball away from Essex's Kylie Acker during the girls D1 state basketball championship at Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington on Tuesday, March 10, 2015.
GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS

And before the reigning champs locked down Essex as a team, they set their sights on the Hornets' standout guard Mychaela Harton. The junior's 15 points against BFA-St. Albans in the Final Four, the most of any player in the semifinals, made her priority No. 1 for CVU.

The Redhawks threw three players at Harton in the first half — Grasso, Laura Durkee and Maeve Higgins — as they held her scoreless with a box-and-1 defensive scheme.

"We were in all different kinds of (looks) just to make her work, work, work," Otley said. "She's a great player, we had to do it. I think she's a great kid, I like the kid — I don't like taking the fun out of it for kids but after the way she performed in that semifinal we knew we had to take her out of it."

Add to that focus a dominant second half on the boards — CVU out-rebounded Essex 25-13 over the final two frames — and the well-drilled Redhawks machine was well on its way to the trophy to mark a 71st straight victory.

"Everybody's got a job to do — whatever it is, this is what we need you to do," Otley said. "If I need you to just play hellacious defense for two minutes, then do it. And the kids buy into that. They do their job."

Contact Austin Danforth at 651-4851 or edanforth@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/eadanforth